


Statement of Kate Burnham

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: The Bridge (Podcast), The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Crossover, Roger is a Lukas, Statement Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 12:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17849267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: “Statement of Kate Burnham, Travel Agent assigned to Watchtower Ten on the Transatlantic Bridge, regarding her supervisor. Statement taken November third, 2016. Recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.“





	Statement of Kate Burnham

“Statement of Kate Burnham, Travel Agent assigned to Watchtower Ten on the Transatlantic Bridge, regarding her supervisor. Statement taken November third, 2016. Recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

 _Statement_ _begins_ :

‘The Bridge is... strange. That’s nothing new. Everyone knows the Bridge is strange, you guys probably get statements about it all the time. Something about the endless ocean, the cries of the gulls always seeming far away, the gentle lap of the waves and the certainty of the abyss below. And that’s not to mention the sea monsters that almost definitely lurk in the depths, and the psychological aspect of the ocean. The way it’s mystery and siren’s call beholds the human mind. But sorry, I didn’t come here to talk about the Bridge itself, I don’t normally ramble like this.

Something is wrong with my supervisor.

Now that’s not to say he’s a bad supervisor. On the contrary, Roger Kaplan is a damn good one. He does his job well and he keeps his people in line without being cruel or unreasonable, and he cares. That’s really all any employee can ask for. But things just... don’t add up sometimes. Like, for example, he says he’s in his thirties, but he really doesn’t look it. He looks maybe twenty three. That’s not weird on its own, it could easily be written off as him just looking younger than he is. But sometimes on the rare occasions he opens up, he’ll talk about an experience or something he did or saw once, but the dates don’t add up and his math is all wrong. Again, it could just be written off as him having a bad memory, but still. To add to that, he’s had way more jobs than a normal person should, and all of them have had glowing reviews of him, I checked. So he couldn’t have been fired. And every single one of those jobs have been on the Bridge. In fact, I haven’t been able to find much of anything about his life before he came on the Bridge. It’s like... I dunno, it may just be me being paranoid, but it’s like someone deliberately tried to erase his history.

You know, he got stabbed once. Multiple times, in the stomach. So many bleeding wounds pouring more blood than the human body can stand to lose. I found him lying pale in Etta’s-that is, my coworker Etta Perrault’s-arms, and I thought he was dead for a horrible moment. But then he took a breath, audible even over Etta sobbing. We got him to the infirmary in time, but... but the man had been stabbed like seven times! I’ve never met anyone who could survive that, especially not skinny, defenseless Roger with his bird arms and lack of any sense of self-preservation. But he just... got better. Fast. Like, really fast. _Supernaturally_ fast. He was on his feet again in a week. I don’t think the others really thought about the implications of that. I don’t think they wanted to. Bertie- Bertie Renard, our botanist- he especially won’t hear a word when I try to bring up how weird it is. He’s got a _thing_ for Roger, so he’s more than a bit protective.

I worry about Roger, sometimes. On nights I can’t sleep I’ll wander the Watchtower to make myself sleepy, and he’ll often be awake as well. He’ll just... stare out into the empty sea, the darkness of the night reflected in his obsidian eyes. It’s nights like these where he’ll withdraw, his mind lost in a world the rest of us can’t access. I’m not the only one who sees him like this. Sometimes Etta will sit with him and chatter to fill the night, and Bertie will often drape a blanket over his shoulders to keep the chill at bay. But most of the time he just... closes off, isolating himself and refusing to let any of us in. He claims he likes being alone, that he _needs_ to be alone, the he has never needed anyone and isn’t about to start now. But that doesn’t stop him from leaning into our touches.

I asked Roger to accompany me off the Bridge once, just for some business, but he refused me flat before I’d even finished the question. I tried pressing, but he just got more and more irritated until he just up and left. He gets that way whenever someone tries to make him leave, and he’ll spend hours just brooding on that balcony of his. He spends so much time up there that we’ve started calling it Roger’s Perch. I never know what’s going on in that man’s head. It’s like he’s on another level completely, somewhere just to the left of all us mere mortals. Now, don’t get me wrong, Roger is my friend. I care about him a lot. I care about them all, and I know Roger cares about us too. I just... I dunno. Something’s up with him, I know it. And I didn’t know who else to talk to. You guys deal with this shit, so maybe you’ve seen something like this before? I’ll leave my information with you, just in case. Just... don’t let Roger know I talked to you guys about him, okay? And I’ll warn you now. If any of your people try anything to hurt or capture him, you won’t have just me to deal with. I protect what’s mine. And something tells me the Bridge will too.’

 _End_ _statement_.

Final notes. I’m not entirely sure what to make of this one, to be perfectly honest. This supervisor shows a few similarities to servants of the Lonely; his distance, his unwillingness to communicate, his apparent ability to survive mortal wounds. His unusual reluctance to leave the Bridge does admittedly capture my interest. I may need to send someone out to investigate, though I hesitate to ask my assistants. Many assistants sent to the Bridge often come back... shaken. If they come back at all. And if I am indeed dealing with a servant of the Lonely, I should probably deal with it myself. We attempted to follow up on this statement with Ms. Burnham, though she was decidedly less friendly than she was before, and we were told in no uncertain terms that she had ‘made a mistake’ to ‘forget about that statement and leave Roger alone’. It seems she’s developed a protectiveness of her own. It is unlikely that anything more will come of this, though I will keep my eyes out for any further mention of unusual individuals on the Bridge.

...One more thing does stand out to me. Ms. Burnham had included with her statement a photograph of her supervisor, clearly taken in secret without his knowledge. He’s a severe man, thin and angular with dark hair and even darker eyes, pure black. What intrigues me, is that I have seen this man before. In a group photo of the Lukas family that hangs framed over Elias’ desk, the man in Kate’s photo stands, an identical scowl on his face. However, that photo was supposed to have been taken in 1971. If my suspicions are correct, then Roger ‘Kaplan’ has not aged a day in over fifty years.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am currently deep in The Magnus Archives hell, and wanted to combine it with another of my favorite podcasts! I may not be the best at writing statement format but hey I had fun so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
